On March 26, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission issued a new privacy report entitled “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers.” The report charts a path forward for companies to act in the interest of protecting...

On March 21, 2012, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley announced that Maloney Properties Inc. (“MPI”), a property management firm, executed an Assurance of Discontinuance and agreed to pay $15,000 in civil penalties following an October 2011 theft of an unencrypted...

Notwithstanding the significant concerns expressed by regulators, such as the Commission Nationale de L'informatique et Des Libertes (CNIL), the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities (APPA - which includes the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia and the Privacy...

March 1, 2012 marks a critical compliance date for businesses covered by the Massachusetts data security regulations. Regulations implementing Massachusetts law defining standards to be met by businesses with access to "personal information" of any Massachusetts resident went into effect...

Since 2004, any operator of a commercial website or online service that collected information about California residents was required to conspicuously post its privacy policy. This state law, the California Online Privacy Protection Act (the California Privacy Act), effectively operated as a...

On February 23, 2012, the White House released its much-anticipated report on data privacy. The report, entitled Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy is a nonbinding framework for the use and handling...

Can the U.S. build consumer trust and global interoperability without creating restrictive regulations that stifle innovation? That is what the Obama administration is attempting to do in the recently released Commerce Department report Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for...

January 25, 2012, previously published by BNA Privacy & Security Law Report on January 16, 2012

Department of Education amendments to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act regulations, governing the disclosure of personally identifiable information from students’ education records, took effect Jan. 3. While the changes are limited, the new guidance significantly changes who can...

Just this past summer, the Hacker "Anonymous" released reams of information stolen from the FBI. Anonymous reportedly did this to embarrass ManTech, the contractor that handles the FBI's cyber-security. This bold attack shows how completely vulnerable each entity is to determined...